Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 6: Down at the dumpsissuing a closure permit, turned out to be about extending the operating permit.“Public reaction was swift, as people blocked the site entrance of the dump, helddemonstrations and marches, and circulated a petition to council that gained 6,000signatures,” reports Trusha Reddy [2005].The authorities also broke promises to keep the dump below the level of Kennedy Road,says Arun Edwards, chair of the Clare Estates Residents Association. Those who oncehad a view across the Mgeni estuary to the sea now look out onto a mountain of waste.He also cites numerous contraventions of the permit conditions: the requirement ofan 800 metre buffer zone has been ignored; industrial waste, animal carcasses andsewage sludge are illegally dumped on the site; and the daily soil cover is inadequate.The smell, he says, is now worse than ever particularly in the mornings after rain.Adding insult to injury, the City installed perfume rods to mask the smell. Reddycomments that the “landfill now exudes the stink of dump rot mixed with an artificialsickly-sweet smell” [2005].City authorities argue that the CDM project has mitigated LFG impacts. Accordingto Parkins, cold fronts cause temporary cracks in the top seal and resulted in LFGbeing vented before the wells were developed to provide an easier escape route for thegas. Edwards says Clare Estates was not against the gas wells which should have beendeveloped anyway. Nor did they take a view on CDM as such. The issue was that theproject might extend the life of the dump in order to secure the maximum return oninvestment. Erion et al [2008] note that, while DSW officials denied any link betweenclosure and the CDM project, the original project documents assert that the landfillwill stay open throughout the ‘crediting’ period which is a minimum of seven years butmay be extended to a total of 21 years. Further, early closure would reduce methaneproduction by over 12%.Khan saw the project as giving the dump an environmental justification as well asextending its life. She vigorously challenged it through the EIA process and in thecourts. She also linked with local and international climate justice campaigners opposedto CDM as part of the carbon trading regime brought into being by Kyoto. Finally,the grandees of the Prototype Carbon Fund, wary of bad publicity, approved fundingfor the projects at Mariannhill and La Mercy only, leaving out the much larger BisasarRoad. eThekwini Council, however, has gone ahead with the Bisasar Road projectwithout the PFC and is awaiting the approval of the CDM Executive Board.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 145 -